As 2018 draws to a close, here is my reflection on the past year.
Family
My daughter began 2018 as a 6-month-old, and is now nearly a year and a half old. Helping her grow and thrive has been a deeply transformative experience. I will forever cherish both the major milestones and the many little moments we spent together this year.
This was the year she started crawling, then walking, then running around. It was the year she started cooing, then babbling nonsense, then saying a few words (“milk!”), then saying hundreds of words (“snowman!”), and now stringing together basic two-word sentences (“Daddy blocks!”). It’s been incredible to witness her personality emerge, and so rewarding to observe her brave and loving nature.
It’s only been 18 months, but being a father has already been among the greatest joys of my life.
2018 also witnessed Katy and I celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary and the 13-year mark of our first high school romance. We continue to grow closer, deeper in love, and more intuitive of each other. I’ve been blessed with an amazing life partner and best friend. Here’s to many more.
I shared many memories with other members of my family: I flew to Colorado to visit my brother in Catholic seminary, attended a brother-in-law’s wedding, joined a family reunion, and enjoyed having both my family and my wife’s family within a 20-minute drive.
Special love goes to my mother-in-law Jane who watches our daughter at our house four days a week while Katy and I work. We’re blessed our daughter will have a special relationship with her grandmother.
Friends
One downside of raising a toddler is that it inevitably erodes away at your other pastimes. For me, this meant a lot fewer outings and game nights with close friends.
While I celebrated many highlights — including serving as a groomsman for one of my best friends, Stephen, and hosting a 30th birthday party — there are also many people who I didn’t see as often as I wanted to.
One of my goals for 2019 is to more routinely and proactively schedule time with friends.
Community
One of my big changes in 2018 was taking a more active role in the community.
Inspired by the thought of creating a better neighborhood and hometown for my daughter, I began participating in neighborhood leadership and local politics.
In September, I volunteered to be my HOA’s secretary. In October and November, I researched and wrote a blog post about the Herndon Town Council election. I also campaigned for the candidates whose policies and leadership approaches I endorsed.
As a bonus, I met a lot of great people around town!
In 2019, I plan to keep increasing my involvement in the community.
Work team book club
Career
In November, I completed my second year working for technology consultancy Excella.
Although my skills growth wasn’t quite as explosive as 2017 (my first year as a full-time software engineer), I still learned and contributed quite a bit. I continue to improve my .NET full stack development skills while working on a productive, agile team.
Two major milestones came early in the year: I was promoted to Senior Consultant and selected to speak at a coding conference. Unfortunately, the event was postponed due to weather, and I couldn’t make the new date.
Perhaps the most exciting and stressful time at work this year was the first four months when I served as “scrum master” — a team leader and problem-solver. Later in the year, I took on some technical ownership of my project and overhauled the team’s onboarding and documentation.
Despite these accomplishments, I’m a bit disappointed with my professional development in 2018: Though I’m proud of what I did while in the office, I had difficulty finding time to teach myself new skills during off hours. I suppose it’s another casualty of time spent caring for a toddler, but I’d like to do better next year.
On the fun side, I continued to run an office book club, and I hosted a team game of Diplomacy. (I won.)
Travel
Other than numerous day trips, my travel highlights were fairly sparse in 2018: We attended a brother-in-law’s wedding in southwest Virginia. I flew to see my seminarian brother in Colorado Springs. I joined a weekend family reunion in Massanutten. And I spent a week at a lake house on the Chesapeake Bay with extended family.
Creating
Anyone who has known me for awhile knows how much I value creating things and undertaking personal projects. This year was a bit of mixed bag: I made progress on several efforts but didn’t come close to finishing most of them.
First was a series of music reviews for my long-running pop culture blog Earn This: I aimed to publish 365 song reviews in 2018, a target I knew was lofty and implausible. I made it to about 150. Not bad, but still disappointing to not hit the finish line.
Second were some goals to create things for my daughter. I wanted to create two games and write her a set of stories. I created one game for her (identifying and grouping pictures of family members) and wrote some of the stories, but didn’t finish.
Third, I wanted to write my brother Brad a hundred times while he was on his year-long retreat (intending most of the letters to be short, quick notes). I made it about half way to 100, though we did have some memorable exchanges.
My major creative effort of 2017 — designing and refining a board game tentatively titled Hero Legacy — was on hiatus during most of 2018 as I lost steam and inspiration.
Now that I have a full appreciation of my limited time and mental bandwidth as a parent, I am setting much lower creative goals for 2019. In fact, I am putting no pressure on myself to create anything: Next year, I simply want to follow my creative whims and enjoy my limited spare time.
Resolutions
My main resolutions for 2018, beyond some of the creative projects I’ve already described, were to improve my habits. Specifically, I wanted to drink less frequently and exercise more frequently.
I started well on these goals, and diligently logged through about June. At that point I was on track for my metrics on drinking less, and just a bit behind on exercising.
Around the middle of the year, I fell behind on logging and regressed on both goals: I still have a beer most evenings, and struggle to make time for cardio. Healthy habits continue to be an area I’d like to improve.
Favorites
Books
I read about 32 books in 2018, many fewer than the 63 I read in 2017. (Much of my reading and audiobook time were filled with reading news and listening to podcasts.)
The crop of books I read lacked major highlights. The only book that truly moved me was Atonement by Ian McEwan — what a lovely, heart-wrenching tale about memory and guilt and storytelling. (On the other hand, Lethal White by Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling was the most fun I had.)
I also read a lot of nonfiction — mostly about childhood development. None inspired me as much as last year’s favorite Brain Rules for Baby by John Medina (I did read and love his other Brain Rules books this year).
Television and Movies
I saw almost no movies in 2018 — yet another casualty to parenting a toddler. My main recommendation is that Lady Bird lives up to the hype.
Television is another story: Katy and I have a routine of watching an episode of TV to wind down before bed. We powered through several dramas this year. My second-favorite show we watched is The Americans, a brilliant, slow-burn spy drama with incredible payoff in its later seasons.
My favorite show we watched is The Leftovers on HBO from 2014-17. The show depicts the aftermath of a rapture-like event where 2% of the world’s population suddenly vanishes. It’s very dark and not for everyone, but I adored its incredible, unpredictable drama.
The most incredible shot of The Leftovers. From Season 3.
My musical highlight of 2018 was completing a course on the history and appreciation of opera via The Great Courses. Professor Robert Greenberg is an absolute treasure.
Podcasts
I listened to many podcasts in 2018, but the highlight was The Anthropocene Reviewedby John Green — narrated mini-essays about facets of human life. Evocative yet concise (each episode is two 10-minute essays), Anthropocene Reviewed is a marvelous (often funny) meditation on modern life, and my favorite podcast ever. Listen.
Next Year
In 2019, I am avoiding prescriptive resolutions. I simply want to re-engage on my core values: spend time with friends and family, create, read, participate in the community, cultivate healthy behavior. If I can honestly say I did all these things when 2020 rolls around, I’ll be content.
One specific theme I’d like to focus on is reconnecting with friends who I’ve seen less since my daughter was born. In other words, I’d love to spend more time with you. Let’s make it happen.
I’ve worked in the Town of Herndon since 2007, lived here since 2012, and owned a home here since 2013. Last year, I had my first child. Over time, my interest in the future of this community has grown substantially — I want Herndon to be a safe and vibrant town for my family.
This year, for the first time, I decided to do significant research about the Herndon Town Council election. I’ve met every candidate and discussed their vision for the next two years of Herndon. I’ve read every candidate’s campaign materials and platforms. I’ve read their illuminating Q&A’s in Oak Hill/Herndon Connection.
Given the amount of time and thought I have put into this election, I have decided to share my decision about who I will vote for, and why.
Before I share my decisions, I will provide a little bit of background on my personal values, the political landscape of Herndon, and some headline-grabbing drama.
Please contact me at danstalcup@gmail.com if you have any questions or feedback. I would love to hear the perspective of other Herndon residents.
My Values for Herndon’s Future
As I share my endorsements, please keep in mind the values I used to make my selections.
Progress. I am excited about Herndon’s future. Planning for redevelopment of downtown has come a long way, and, by all accounts, is not far from finalization. I believe a redeveloped, vibrant downtown will greatly increase the character and flavor of Herndon, and will provide a great community center for residents of Herndon to connect. I care about smart planning of other projects, too, including the upcoming Herndon Metro station. I also believe in the more abstract kind of progress — elevating community discourse and behavior to be positive, safe, inclusive, and forward-thinking.
Collaboration. Herndon is a small, tight-knit town. It’s a place for respectful consensus, not divisive politics. I value candidates that will work together with respect for all viewpoints, yet still drive towards a shared solution.
Accessibility. As part of Herndon’s small town feel, I believe that the government should be accessible to all citizens. I believe Councilmembers should make themselves available to one-on-one meetings with citizens, and decision-making should be open to the community.
Balance. While I believe Herndon should strive for progress, I also believe all efforts should be undertaken judiciously. For example, The Council and Town Manager have done a great job preserving the tax rate while still advancing exciting efforts like the downtown redevelopment.
A few words on the Democratic sample ballot
Regardless of your political beliefs, voters should understand which parties endorse what candidates.
Herndon Town Council and Mayor candidates are required to run as independents. However, they are not barred from receiving endorsements from party-run organizations.
All incumbent candidates (Lisa Merkel, Jennifer Baker, Sheila Olem, Signe Friedrichs, Bill McKenna, Grace Wolf Cunningham) plus two new candidates (Joe Plummer, Cesar del Aguila), sought endorsement by the local Democratic party. Only six of seven inquiring Council candidates (plus Ms. Merkel as mayor), could receive endorsements.
All candidates except for Grace Wolf Cunningham were recommended for endorsements from the party. However, all candidates except Olem, Friedrichs, and del Aguila declined the endorsement. At least some candidates whom I have spoken to did so because they did not want to sign a pledge to support and vote for all endorsed candidates. (More on the candidates below.)
Adding to the confusion and trouble, the Fairfax Democrats district that selected endorsements is predominantly non-Herndon residents.
The official Democratic sample ballot is not a complete representation of which Herndon Town Council candidates associate with the Democratic party. In my opinion, it is a bit of a debacle: As so many candidates declined their endorsements, it presents a skewed picture of the actual race and will mislead many Democratic-leaning voters who have not researched the Council elections.
Click the thumbnail below to see a corrected sample ballot of all candidates that were recommended for endorsement by Fairfax Democrats.
Click to see alternate Democratic sample ballot
A few words on the lawsuit
On September 24, two Councilmembers plus one new candidate — Sheila Olem, Signe Friedrichs, and Cesar del Aguila — sued Grace Wolf Cunningham for malicious prosecution.
Please read the Fairfax Times summary of the case, and note that it is reported almost entirely from the perspective of the plaintiffs. A letter to the Herndon Connection editor agreed that the reporting is one-sided here.
I’ve read every article I could find on the topic, read plaintiff quotes, spoken to the defendant and several third parties, and come to my own conclusion: I’m not a lawyer, but based on the evidence I have seen, the lawsuit against Councilmember Cunningham is baseless, inappropriate, and distracting from real discourse.
While I sympathize with Olem, Friedrichs, and del Aguila for feeling frustrated by ticky-tacky ad complaints by Cunningham that were dismissed, I find it difficult to believe that the complaints were harassment or a danger to their candidacy: I’ve been following the race closely and had no idea the “Stand By Your Ad” complaints were filed until the news of the lawsuit broke. I hadn’t noticed or cared; how many voters truly would have?
The contention that the complaints were in response to Cunningham missing out on the Democratic endorsement seems speculative and personal. These type of political theatrics — unless against something truly injurious — do not represent the collaborative, small-town feel Herndon thrives on.
A few words on the art center and town budget
On April 24, 2018, Herndon Town Council faced some unusual drama in its attempt to pass its tax rate and budget. You can read a summary on the Herndon Connection here, and watch the web-cast of the session here. Two council members suggested a surprise continuance in passing the budget to look at raising the meals tax.
Central to the question about the tax rate is the issue of how much the Town of Herndon will fund the upcoming Arts Center. Part of Herndon’s small-town charm is its strong contingent of artists and creators. Key parts of many candidates’ platforms relate to how much they believe Herndon should fund the Arts Center.
I personally support a balanced approach where Herndon supports the Center, without imposing significant tax burdens on residents. I will expand a bit when discussing some specific candidates later in this article.
Herndon Mayor: Who I am voting for
Lisa Merkel
I know that Lisa Merkel is running unopposed, so this is not a contentious selection. However, I would vote to re-elect “Mayor Lisa” even if she was running against someone.
Under Lisa Merkel, Herndon has thrived. Downtown redevelopment is nearly underway. She has elevated the town’s image and inclusive, small-town feel by building consensus and thinking forward.
She’s also transformed the Town Council from a partisan battleground to a progress-advocacy group. Nearly all votes have gone 7-0 or 6-1 in her tenure, and — despite the claims of her increasingly few (and unhinged) scorners — this has been emblematic of hard work and bridge-building prior to Council meetings, not malice.
Ms. Merkel is transparent and honest, a kind person, and a great mayor. She has my vote.
Below is a ranked-order list of the town council members: the first few of which I will be voting for, the rest of which I will not.
The top of the list are my favorite candidates, the bottom of the list my least-favorite. Note that I believe every (or nearly every) candidate has a mindset of civic service, and would strive to make Herndon the best town possible. I do not begrudge anyone voting for any of these candidates.
Who I am voting for
Bill McKenna
Mr. McKenna, an incumbent, is one of my favorite people in Herndon. When you think small town advocacy and leadership, you think of people like Bill.
Mr. McKenna is a frequent face at Herndon events, and often represents the town on commissions. He has made differences both big and small: He champions downtown development as a policy and budget wonk, but also dedicates his time to things like reading to elementary school kids and supporting the Herndon Youth Advisory Council. He is very transparent, providing frequent email and social media updates about town goings-on.
His recent inspiring effort has been to lose weight while being active around Herndon. He’s lost 100 lbs and counting — go get ’em, Bill!
The current Vice Mayor has been an outstanding voice for Herndon. She’s helped lead the town to the verge of downtown redevelopment and Metro connection. She’s done so while articulating a specific, exciting vision of Herndon as a small town that supports innovators in arts and other domains.
Ms. Baker also has constantly advocated for inclusive discourse and progress. She’s a beloved figure around town, and is always a delight to talk to. She has my vote this Election Day to continue the Town’s forward direction.
Joe is a newbie to the Herndon Town Council, but he is extremely impressive. His passion for, and knowledge of, sustainability principles is evident from a first conversation with him. The UN has declared climate change to be the most important issue of the near future, and Joe can be a voice for Herndon to make a positive impact in that field.
Though he is a fresh face, he has plenty of experience on town boards and commissions, and has demonstrated desire and skill for collaborating with incumbent Councilmembers. He has great ideas for topics like mass transit, fiscal responsibility, and town walkability. He’s also a lifelong resident — he peppers his social media with pictures of him growing up around town.
Ms. Cunningham is the most experienced and distinguished member of the Herndon Town Council. She’s also an inspiring figure: She was the first Korean-American woman in an elected position in Virginia history. I strongly admire her social progressive streak, which she highlights in her campaign video on Facebook.
I am slightly alarmed by her central role in the lawsuit and sample ballot drama. As I’ve learned more about the situation, I believe she has acted responsibly and consistently, though the “Stand By Your Ad” complaints have the optics of pettiness, even if she believed them valid violations. I certainly think she should not be disqualified from consideration.
Policy- and experience-wise, Ms. Cunningham is my favorite candidate on the ballot, and I hope she will be able to serve a fifth term.
Though Herndon residents are allowed to vote for up to six candidates for the Council, they can vote for fewer. I only have high enough confidence in four candidates to give them my vote. I do not plan on voting for the rest of the candidates, though I believe all (or most) of them would dutifully serve Herndon if elected.
Pradip Dhakal
I waffled multiple times on whether I would endorse Mr. Dhakal with my vote. He has a lot going for him: He would bring a fresh young voice to the Council, plus some much-needed diversity. He seems very congenial and collaborative, as well as driven.
I have two hesitations voting for him, and they are sufficient that I do not plan to vote for him in this election. First, he seems very inexperienced with local government, unlike some of the other non-incumbent candidates; his political voice still needs refinement. Second, his passion seems to be entrepreneurship, which is a fairly small aspect of Councilmember responsibility. (To be fair, he has emphasized more germane topics, like budgets, traffic, and downtown development, in recent campaign material.)
I am a fan of Mr. Dhakal and am excited to have him as a future leader of Herndon. I just feel like he’s not quite ready — I’d love to see him work on a town committee aligned with his interests, like the Economic Development Advisory Committee.
I’m going to discuss Ms. Friedrichs’ and Ms. Olem’s candidacy together because they have similar platforms, as well as similar strengths and weaknesses as candidates.
Both candidates are current Councilmembers who have served Herndon wonderfully. They have strived for progress and unity, and have made Herndon a better place. I am proud to have had them as my representatives, and I would not be disappointed if they are elected again.
However, both Councilmembers have engaged in troubling political behavior in recent months that has disqualified them from my vote. Their longstanding commitment to collaboration, one of my most important values in local government, seems to have deteriorated.
On April 24 (here’s a summary and the webcast), after months of work by the Council to seek public input and achieve consensus on the budget, both Ms. Olem and Ms. Friedrichs unexpectedly voted against the budget with a desire to consider raising the meal tax. As the budget and tax rate needed 5 of 6 votes to pass, but 4 of 6 votes to continue to the next meeting, this dramatic move put the council in a deadlock, of which Ms. Friedrichs eventually relented, securing a 2019 Herndon budget.
While the substance of their request was reasonable — to delay passage of the budget to reconsider the tax rate — the theatrical surprise (obvious in the other Councilmembers) after months of work, is the sort of political shenanigans that needs to stay out of small town Herndon.
Next, neither Ms. Olem nor Ms. Friedrichs opted to decline endorsement from Fairfax Democrats in solidarity with the rest of the incumbent Councilmembers. Of course this is a valid choice of theirs, but does not show the unity and shared vision I expect of our Council.
The last and most troubling action is that they have sued another Councilmember and candidate over something that is, from my perspective, non-injurious. In turn, they’ve impacted Ms. Cunningham’s campaign worse than she did theirs. It’s tacky, vaudeville politics that could, at worst, impact the legitimacy and stability of Herndon’s Town Council.
Although they’ve served Herndon well, and may continue to do so, I believe their actions the last six months are disqualifying.
By all accounts I’ve heard, both Mr. Taylor and Mr. Kenis are men of integrity who truly want the best for Herndon. Both have a history of public service. Mr. Taylor was the president of my homeowners association, and he ran a well-organized board. Both men, particularly Mr. Kenis, have campaigned diligently and articulated clear visions for Herndon’s future.
However, I disagree with many pieces of their platforms, to the point that I am not comfortable lending them my vote. In fact, I think many of their platform items would be regressive to Herndon’s continued progress as a great and inclusive small town.
Mr. Kenis, for example, has discussed lowering taxes. Yet Herndon runs a very lean budget and has held the tax rate steady for years. The increase in tax revenue he cites is simply the effect of increased home values, and tax cuts would heavily favor owners of expensive houses.
Mr. Kenis also has suggested reverting Herndon’s local voting back to May, instead of the national Election Day in November. He claims this would decrease partisanship and block-voting. Candidates would be true independents, he argues. What he fails to mention is that turnout tends to be very suppressed in offseason elections, and tend to disproportionately draw certain demographics (white, elderly, wealthy). It’s hard enough for everyone to find a couple hours off to vote in November; adding another in May just makes it even more difficult for those with hourly jobs or young families.
Mr. Taylor, meanwhile, uses quite a bit of anti-developer rhetoric in his promotional materials. I fear that Mr. Taylor would drag his heels in helping Herndon complete downtown redevelopment and Metro preparation.
I believe both to be good, hardworking, and well-intentioned candidates. However, I can’t give either of them my votes.
Mr. Aguila is a longtime vocal Democrat in the Northern Virginia area. I share many of his idealogies, and I strongly wish that Herndon had more Hispanic representation.
Yet, I believe he is a poor candidate for Herndon Town Council due to his aggressive, occasionally theatrical, approach to politics. Please do not vote for Mr. del Aguila.
He has displayed an appetite for aggressive approach to politics is inappropriate on a small town council. This is most noteworthy in his recent lawsuit against Ms. Cunningham. (Unlike Ms. Olem and Ms. Friedrichs, Mr. del Aguila does not have the strong history of service on the Town Council to counter-balance this act.)
Mr. del Aguila proudly boasts a disruptive approach to progress that is not appropriate for Herndon Town Council, but would be better suited in other positions.
I’ve spoken to multiple veterans of the Northern Virginia political landscape who roll their eyes and cited Mr. del Aguila’s approach as a firebrand and political grenade-thrower, regardless of the actual stakes: He caused rifts and broke tradition, riling up and dividing groups rather than unifying.
This is NOT the type of voice and leadership we need on Herndon Town Council.
It’s also not hard to draw a line between Mr. del Aguila and the budget battle on April 24 I mentioned in Ms. Olem’s and Ms. Friedrich’s section. Both Ms. Olem and Ms. Friedrich support heavy, burdensome town investment in the arts, and Mr. del Aguila is a board member of Arts Herndon. The three have appeared together in campaigning.
Some in Herndon leadership that I have spoken to have speculated that Mr. del Aguila has encouraged current Councilmembers to engage in his aggressive, dramatic tactics in the name of small wins, and would continue to if elected. This is an attitude we need to avoid in lovely Herndon — a town that should be unified and service-based, not headline- or lawsuit-based.
Thank you very much for reading this. I put a lot of thought and time into it. Did you appreciate this? Do you think I made some mistakes or missed information? Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at danstalcup@gmail.com.
Let’s continue to make Herndon a great town to live in. Please vote on Tuesday, November 6!
Since 2013, I’ve made a goal every year to read 52 books. I’ve always struggled to hit the goal.
But in 2017, I not only hit the goal, I surpassed it. Without really trying.
It’s not like 2017 was a quiet year. I transitioned to a new job, refinanced my house…. oh, and had my first kid.
Here are the steps I took to drastically up my reading consumption without putting in a lot of extra effort:
Recognize that reading books is important
It sounds basic, but it’s important: You need to value reading before you can read a lot. Otherwise, you’ll just find ways not to.
This article isn’t about why reading is important, but let me give you the short version: Reading is the absorption of information and ideas. It’s crucial for learning, growing, and expanding your perspective on the world.
Non-fiction teaches you how to do stuff, how stuff works, and what happened. Fiction connects ideas and themes by engaging our innate desire for narrative. Both fiction and non-fiction are important for improving your thinking, and both can be a whole lot of fun.
To quote A Dance With Dragons: “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies… The man who never reads lives only one.”
Find your no-hands times, and fill them with audiobooks
The big breakthrough to my book count in 2017 actually came from trying to make the best of a bad situation: A new, long commute. I found myself stuck with 90-120 minutes a day by myself. No free fingers to poke devices.
I started listening to audiobooks. I realized how enriched and focused I felt when I did this. I figured out how to make the most of listening, and decided to do it all the time.
Then, I started finding other quiet times when I was “stuck” in one place with no free hands: cleaning dishes, feeding a bottle to my daughter, folding laundry, riding a stationary bike at the gym, etc.
Of course, there’s no need to be zealous. Enjoy the quiet. Listen to Tchaikovsky. Talk to people. But make your default be listening to books.
(Semantic clarification: Yes, listening to audiobooks counts as “reading.” So call it reading. Treat the books as if you read them on paper or e-ink. My friend who’s a librarian says there are studies showing your brain processes print and narration the same way. I haven’t read the studies myself, but librarians never lie.)
Cut back on podcasts
Previously, I’d fill time by turning on podcasts. I had a half dozen weekly podcasts on rotation.
I’ve consciously decided to cut out podcasts. It’s a cool, emerging medium. But I value books more.
Again, no need to get zealous. Some mornings I just want to listen to unscripted chatter. There are a few shows I need to keep up with. But listening time is scarce and precious, so I defer to books.
Turn up the speed
Every audiobook app I use has the ability to listen to books at higher speeds than they were recorded. I highly recommend you take advantage of this.
I typically go for 1.75x. Sometimes I’ll bump down to 1.5x or up to 2.0x. I’ve experimented 2.5x. (Not for rookies.)
You get through books so much faster. A 14-hour book suddenly becomes 7 hours — less than a week’s worth of commutes!
This takes some getting used to. Brains aren’t used to hearing voices at that speed. Ease yourself in: Start with 1.25x, then try 1.5x, then 1.75x. Once you’re used to it, anything slower than 1.5x will sound the DMV in Zootopia.
Find your sources
It shouldn’t be hard for you to get a book to listen to. I recommend three sources, and regularly use the app for each:
Overdrive: My public library lets me borrow audiobooks for free. Yours probably does too. Overdrive is the most popular provider, and takes five minutes to set up if you have a library card. The selection isn’t outstanding, so it’s better to approach Overdrive when you are open-minded about selection. I typically browse currently available books, sorted by popularity. Overdrive is not great for when you have specific books in mind. For those must-reads, I suggest…
Audible: They make it super easy to find, buy, and listen to audiobooks. Their selection is the best in the world. They even have the incredible “Whispersync” feature, which my wife adores: Your audiobook and Kindle book will stay in sync as you read and listen. Of course, there is a catch: It ain’t cheap. $15 / month gets you one book credit. I go for $23 / month for two credits. (Rates are lower if you pre-pay for the year. You can buy extra credits, and you can save credits you don’t use.) To me, the value of Audible matches its price.
Librivox: Public domain recordings of public domain books. These are almost all classics of fiction made by amateur enthusiasts. As such, the quality is hit-or-miss. But it’s free and gets the job done.
Pick the right type of books for listening
Now that I’ve listened to 75 or so audiobooks since I started my commute, I have an approximate hierarchy, in descending order, of which types of books make good high-speed commute listens:
Fiction: Full cast recordings (like The Golden Compass)
Anything read by its author (like Brain Rules)
Non-Fiction: Idea books (like Freakonomics)
Non-Fiction: History books (like Alexander Hamilton)
Fiction: Plot-heavy books (like Senlin Ascends)
Fiction: Internal monologue-heavy books (like Go Tell It on the Mountain)
Fiction: Dialogue-heavy books (like Eleanor and Park)
Non-Fiction: How-to books (like Clean Code)
This ranking should be pretty intuitive, but here’s a summary: Books with full casts or the author’s voice have a ton of personality. Non-fiction books that break down easily into main ideas and key events work great for sped-up listening. Fiction can be spottier, but if there’s less need for voice (especially multiple distinct voices), the hit rate is higher. And anything with code, diagrams, or step-by-step instructions are usually a tough fit.
Accept that you’ll miss some details and sensory delight
It’s so easy to zone out for a few seconds here or there when listening. I try not to rewind: Few books lose much value if you skip a few sentences. This makes it much easier to power through books.
It also represents a philosophical shift to book-reading: indiscriminate and consumptive. The more ideas and concepts and stories you engage with, the better.
Sure, pick some to savor. Slow them down to 1x. Heck, by the hardcover. But for the majority, use your hands-free time to tear through them like it’s 2 PM at Chipotle and you skipped breakfast. This is your nourishment.
Think about what you read. Talk about it. (Log it, too.)
Books are about engaging with ideas, information, and stories. They’re about learning (even when it doesn’t feel like it). Share these things with your peers and loved ones. Think about what you valued out of what you read and what you didn’t.
I also suggest using Goodreads to track what you read and when. This is how I know how many books I’ve read each year. I also write brief reactions to most of the books I read, and often add on a star-rating out of five.
But that’s optional. If it feels like overhead, skip it. The rating and counting aren’t the point. The ideas and stories are.
Don’t give up your regular reading time!
All of this is a supplement to my “regular” reading time. You know: glass of wine in a recliner; in bed as you doze off; when you want to teach yourself something. About 12 of my 63 books were not audiobooks.
It’s also okay if you don’t have much time to do that. As long as you have fairly regular hands-free time, you can still get through plenty of books.
Lisa Merkel
Pradip Dhakal